March On

My brother-in-law was in town yesterday so we went up to SF for dinner at Fringale. My sister had introduced me to this SOMA restaurant many years ago. It has since changed hands, formerly being owned by Basque chef Gerald Hirigoyen. Try his Piperade some time. Or try Fringale. The chow is still top notch.

You're probably curious what I had. I can't blame you.

Braised veal short ribs, leeks, polenta cake, turnips, carrots & chanterelle mushroom sauce

My wife had fish, but it was not pretending to be anything other than what it was.

The subject of Lent came up and we talked about the old days, when it was every Friday, not just during Lent, that you had to abstain from meat. I told the story of when my mother mistakenly fed me ground beef on a Friday when I was about five. She realized her mistake after my meal. I asked her what would happen. She said "You're going to hell". Actually she told me I was off the hook since it was her mistake. Mom would never scare her favorite son.

I probably should not have brought up the subject of going to hell during dinner. I had a nightmare last night that my wife had to wake me from. In it, some guy in an old delivery truck with a sliding side door picked me up. He was all smiles until I got in. He then disappeared and a freaky head popped out of the dashboard. As the vehicle started rolling backwards, the head reported that our destination was hell.